DIY pancake slip ring

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haklesup
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Re: DIY pancake slip ring

Post by haklesup »

Heat treating while a science, you need to know your starting material and have control over the process to make it predictable.

https://materion.com/-/media/files/allo ... -parts.pdf
According to this I would guess you are starting with high conductivity type. It references temperatures in the range of 550F to 700F and from other references I got 1 to 3 hours. I am not sure if that is followed by a rapid quench or just cools to room temp or has a slow cool profile.

In any case a good oven to do this with is one of those "Infrared SMD BGA IC Heater Reflow Oven" you can get on ebay. They heat to the required range and can be programmed for ramp up and ramp down temperature profiles. A blow torch will probably overheat the metal and reset the grain structure rather than letting grains grow as what heat treating allows. A home oven cannot get above 550C, maybe you can try running it through a self clean cycle.
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Heat treating takes an amorphous bulk of metal and allows it to gradually transition to a more crystalline structure. That changes mechanical properties like flexibility etc. The sheet metal you will get will already be somewhere along that process, it may work for you out of the box.

Normally one needs "tooling" in the form of a die to stamp and form the contacts into the final shape. That's the part where the majority of the costs lie when working with a supplier. This part is all custom to your application.

I did see more stamped contacts in Digikey from suppliers like bourns and TE. Keep running terms through the image search and then follow the pictures that look interesting to the source site.
qeuker
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Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2021 6:28 am
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Re: DIY pancake slip ring

Post by qeuker »

thanks again haklesup
Alas if I disappoint I have no workshop. Nor could I justify such tooling expenses. I have to do everything with material clamped between my knees and hacksaw ! . Hoping this will just be a pair of scissors on the kitchen worktop LOL
Showing promise with the reclaimed relay contacts I was using so encouraged It was just the mechanics of fixing to the rotor disc and lining up that let me down Melted the strips on with my soldering iron . unreliable . PS rotor disc is a cd rom Must be something out there like relay contact material that anyone can buy . I am still amazed that with all the projects here/ amateur enthusiasts no one else is clamouring for such a sliding contact solution, Well this stuff wont arrive for a while If anyone is still interested in a few weeks time . I'll let you know results The first ever diy pancake slip ring > "They said it couldnt be done" ( might be right..) . cont on p 94
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